HORSE FACED-OGRESS

Long long ago, there reigned a king in Beranes City. He had a queen who was fond of drinking alcohol, telling a lie, and committed adulteries. Upon her death, her soul reincarnated as an ogress bizarre to those of other giant ethnics as she had a horse face. She was called Asmukhe Ogress, living in a cave in the bed of a mountain as a servant of King Vesvoan for three years. The King offered her limited boundary of 30 yauches (one yauch equals to around 16 kilometers) in length and 5 yauches in width, within which she could travel to hunt for humans and animals as food.

One day, the horse faced-ogress caught a single handsome Brahman, and she kept him in a large cave to serve as her husband. The ogress had ever since tried her best to hunt for humans and took possessions of their belongings, including cloth, shirt, rice, fish, meat and other kinds of foods to feed her husband, the Brahman.

Every time she went out to hunt for food, she had always blocked the gateway of the cave with a large rock, for she was afraid that the Brahman ran away. During the time, Buddha reincarnated as a fetus in her womb. Upon maturity of ten months, she gave birth to a lovely boy. The horse faced-ogress loved her son and husband very dearly, and she always provide them with their favorite food.

Growing adult, Buddha pushed out the rock blocking the cave gateway, and brought his dad out of the cave to have a sit nearby. Seeing his mother return, Buddha told his mother immediately, 'I pushed the stone out as I found very dark and lonely inside.' With the deep love for her son, the ogress was calm, not saying any words of blame to her son.

Curious of why his mother had a horse face, he asked his dad for the reason, and his dad replied, 'My dear son! Your mother is an ogress; we both are human beings.' Being informed of the facts, he brought his dad away from the cave.

The ogress returned and could not find her husband and son. She flew in a windy speed and saw them on the way. Then she got them back to the cave. Later, the son tried to get his father away again, but he failed as the ogress arrived. One day, the Buddha understood that his mother had a limited authorized boundary where she could travel. With this knowledge, he asked his mother who then told him such limited authorized boundary.

One day, under a good circumstance, Buddha got his father to flee the cave in a rushed speed to a stream that was the ogress's limited boundary, and they hurried to pass the stream. Arriving at the middle of the stream, the ogress .arrived, but she could not catch her husband and son as they were out of her authorized boundary. She tried to implore her son and husband to come back for a variety of reasons.

Knowing that they both would not return, she started to weep because of her deep love for her son and husband. She screamed, 'Oh my beloved son! If you decided not to return, please learn the incantation called chenda moni from me, because people living without this incantation, which is very worthy and powerful, would face difficulty.'

Standing in the middle of the stream, Buddha listened to incantation of chenda moni from his mother. After completion of the learning, he saluted and said farewell to his mother that 'Please, go back mum! May I say a good bye to you,'







The ogress then stabbed her chest to death. Seeing his mother dying, Buddha cried sorrowfully, and led his father to organize a funeral for his mother. Upon the body was cremated, he picked some flowers from small plants nearby to dedicate ashes of his mother. His father subsequently served his life as a hermit, whereas the son said farewell to his dad and left for Beranes City.

- The END -

UGLY IS BETTER THAN EVIL-MINDED